Once Upon a Time
by Ariebelle
Summary: A collection of fairy tales that I have retold, rewritten, or combined with other fairy tales in some way. Each story is a oneshot. There will not be more. I hope you like them!
1. What Scared a Werewolf

What Scared A Werewolf

A Beauty and the Beast Retelling

by: Ariebelle

Author's Note: I know the title is lame. It's extremely lame. I don't like it. But I like the story, to some degree. I wrote it quite a while ago but I haven't ever posted it on I don't think. I hope you'll enjoy it at least somewhat. If not, please send constructive critcism, not a flame. I don't appreciate or tolerate those. Now I'll shut up and let you read the story. Toodles!

* * *

I looked over my shoulder. There was something following me. I dashed down a dark alleyway, hoping against hope that the thing, whatever it was, would not follow. Big mistake. I came to a dead end, a back lot with a few trashcans. The light of the full moon poured down on me. I could feel my body beginning to change shape as my monthly nightmare began in earnest.

A minute later I was no longer a young woman in a red dress but a huge wolf with shreds of red silk on the ground at my feet. And even as a wolf I could still sense the thing that was after me. It was coming down the alleyway. I was trapped. As it got closer I could see a glimpse of something shining silvery-white in the moonlight. I raised my head and howled. The thing carried a knife. A silver knife. If I didn't get out of there soon I was a goner.

I ran past the thing. (I still couldn't tell what it was but it sure wasn't a human. I knew that smell very well.) It gave a roar of fury and dashed after me. But it only had two feet. I had four.

I made it to the forest on the edge of the town, the thing hot on my tail. I went into the forest, running with all my might, hoping that I would be able to reach the castle, and safety, before sunrise.

"Come here, Amaya my sweet!" came a voice from behind me. "I won't hurt you. Much. I only want to let you feel the pain I felt the night I lost you."

Warren! It couldn't be. I had killed him! I had destroyed him, buried him deep in the ground and left him there to rot. How could he be coming after me now? I ran faster. The castle was just ahead. I could make it if I just kept running. Once I was inside the servants would close the gates. Warren wouldn't be able to get in. I would be safe.

"If you think you killed me, Amaya, you're wrong! You can't kill a sorcerer like me. There are things that delight in reviving the dead. Do you know what they're called?"

I couldn't answer. If I could have I wouldn't. I knew what he meant. Necromancers. They brought back the dead and then the dead worked for them. Unless the dead were stronger than the necromancer. Then the necromancer worked for the revived thing.

The castle was just ahead. I howled to let the servants know I was coming. The gates swung open and I rushed in, a blur of brown fur. The gates swung shut and I heard a cry of pain as I went towards the castle. Warren must have gotten hit by the gate.

"I'll come back, Amaya! You can't run away from me forever! And the next time we meet I'll make sure it's on a night when there's no moon so you can't possibly get away!"

I admit it. I was scared. Not only of the knife, which would have killed me immediately, but also of Warren. He had a necromancer friend, a powerful one most likely. If he had managed to kill me he would have had me brought back to life by that necromancer and I would have been a puppet. His puppet.

I became a human again at sunrise and stumbled into the castle. My lady-in-waiting, Alysia, helped me to my rooms and dressed me. Then I collapsed on the bed and slept until a soft knock on the door awoke me.

"Amaya? Are you in there? It's Jon. May I come in?"

I sat up in bed. Jon was a young man who had come to stay at the castle several months ago. He had been my prisoner but as the months passed he became my friend. But that's another story for another time. At this point in the story I'm telling Jon was knocking on my bedroom door.

"Come in," I said. "I'm awake."

The door opened and my black-haired friend came in. His face was lined with worry as he looked at me.

"What happened to you?" he asked. "Where were you last night?"

"Sit down," I said, motioning at an armchair near the foot of the bed. "I'm fine. Last night was the full moon. I decided to go into the town, thinking I could avoid the moonlight. But an old friend followed me and I was forced to run into a place where the moon shone clearly. I transformed and he chased me all the way back here. I think I collapsed on the grounds just after I got through the gates."

Jon sat in the armchair, looking more worried than ever.

"Why would a friend chase you?" he asked.

"Did I say friend? I meant lover. An old lover that I rejected was after me for revenge. Does it make sense now?"

"Yes. But how could he have killed you? Unless…"

His voice trailed off and I knew he was thinking, correctly of course, that my attacker had had something made of silver.

"Unless he had silver. He did. He had a silver knife. He also had powers. He was a sorcerer."

"A sorcerer?" exclaimed Jon. "You used to be in love with a sorcerer? You never told me that!"

I sighed. I hadn't told him much of my past. He hadn't told me much of his past either. We didn't talk about ourselves much. In fact, the only time we had was the night that he had figured out that I was a werewolf. I had explained to him that someone had cursed me and that I would remain a werewolf until someone broke the spell. What I hadn't told him was that someone had tried to break the spell and failed. That someone had been Warren.

"No, I didn't used to be in love with a sorcerer. He used to be in love with me. I hated him because he was cruel. But he tried to break the spell. He just failed because I didn't love him back. So when he declared his undying love for me nothing happened. He said he had never felt pain like that before. I don't think anyone had ever rejected him for anything before. After that night he became cruel with me too. So one night, in werewolf form, I crept up on him and tore him to shreds. When I became myself again I buried him deep in the ground and forgot about him. But Warren was never able to forget. He found a necromancer who brought him back to life and last night he found me again."

Jon stood up and strode to the bed. He took my hand in his and looked me straight in the eye.

"Amaya, I want you to promise me that you will never, ever go out of the castle grounds, even on the nights of your transformations. I'll stay safe in the castle and you can roam the grounds. But promise me you'll never go out again. This Warren will come after you again. I know he will."

I had never heard him so commanding before nor had I ever seen that look in his eyes. I was afraid. I had seen something akin to that look in Warren's eyes the night he had declared his love for me. It had scared me then. It scared me now.

I pulled my hand away and turned my face from his.

"Jon, I know you want to protect me but this isn't your fight. It's mine. Warren will find me even if I do stay on the castle grounds. He'll find a way to slip in. I'll do as you say but please, don't interfere. If he does come, if he kills me—"

"HE WON'T KILL YOU!" roared Jon. "I won't let him. He won't get near you, ever. I promise you that."

"Do you remember that part of the rose garden where nothing grows?" I asked quietly. " The part where there's just a mound of earth?"

He nodded.

"That's Warren's grave. That's where I buried him. He will come back and he will try to kill me. He will kill anyone who tries to stop him. You can't get in the way. I'll send you home first."

"Amaya, you can't—you wouldn't send me home. I need to stay here with you. I l--"

"Don't say it! Don't say you love me. That's what started this whole business with Warren. He confessed his love and I didn't return it. Then he got angry and it just cresendoed from there. I told you that just minutes ago. Go away. Please. Just go away."

Jon looked hurt. He left the room, letting the door close silently behind him. I buried my face in my pillow and wept.

The next few days were silent. I stayed in my room and Jon stayed in his. Then, three days after we had last spoken he came to me, his bags in his hands.

"I'm leaving," he said. "You don't want me here so I'm going home. I'm going to stay with my mother. She needs me anyways. She's been sick for weeks. I saw it in that magic mirror of yours. Goodbye, Amaya."

He turned to go. I jumped up and caught his arm. He shook me off.

"Jon, please! That's not what I meant!"

"I said goodbye."

He left the room and began walking to the front doors. He really was leaving me. I would be alone again and I wouldn't be able to bear it. I loved him. If he left I would let Warren come and kill me. I would rather be a necromancer's puppet than a werewolf, alone and without my true love. I followed him to the doors.

"You need to take care of your mother," I said. "But please, come back when she's well. I'll have the servants fill your saddlebags with all the supplies you'll need. It should only take a month. Please come back. If you don't, if I don't see you after a month, I'll let Warren take me and you'll lose me forever. Goodbye."

Jon didn't look at me, just opened the doors and left. I collapsed on the floor in tears.

The servants filled his saddlebags with healing supplies and he set off in the early evening. I watched him from my window, hoping against hope that he would return.

A month passed. I ate and drank only enough to stay alive and I spent most of my time in the rose garden, Jon's favorite place. I kept my magic mirror with me at all times so that I could watch him. He took good care of his mother and she grew steadily better but as the end of the month grew nearer he didn't show any sign of getting ready to come back.

My transformation that month happened just as the month was ending. In my despair I didn't even search for food. I bit, tore, and scratched at myself. When sunrise came I dragged myself to Warren's grave. It was the last day of the month and Jon had not returned. I would fulfill my promise to him now and give myself to Warren. Jon was never coming back.

"Warren!" I shouted as loudly as I could. "You win. Come and take me. I don't care anymore."

"I thought you'd give in eventually," said Warren's voice as his twisted black form rose out of the grave. "Your Jonathon is never coming back. He doesn't care for you. Not like I do."

"Wanna bet?"

Whoosh. An arrow flew through the air and hit Warren in the forehead. It didn't do any damage but the archer didn't seem to care. He strung another arrow to his bow and aimed again. It was Jon!

Warren looked at Jon and laughed, a high cruel laugh that only a creature such as himself could produce.

"Foolish boy. Your arrows cannot harm me. Go away. Amaya, my pet, come with me."

I stood up, shaking from weakness and from anger.

"Never," I said, my teeth clenched. "You will never take me."

I walked slowly to Jon's side. He took my hand and squeezed it tightly. I was grateful for it. I was still shaking and if it hadn't been for his hand I might have fallen over.

Warren looked at us with eyes like burning coals.

"You fools. You can't defeat me just by standing there. You can't defeat me at all. Amaya is mine!"

"No I'm not," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "And you can't kill me. I belong to Jon now. Leave and never come back."

Jon looked at me, puzzled.

"You belong to me? What does that mean?"

I turned on him in frustration. He might be the love of my life but he was pretty stupid sometimes.

"Must I spell it out for you? I am yours. I love you."

He looked at me, his eyes filled with that same look he had worn a month ago, and pulled me close to him.

"And I love you, Amaya. I love you with all my heart."

He kissed me on the mouth. I felt myself changing. I was more free than I had been for years. The wolf inside me was gone. Jon had broken the spell.

"Jon you did it! You broke the spell! You did it!"

Before Jon could reply there came a terrible scream from Warren. I looked away from my lover to see him melting into nothingness.

"Amaya," he rasped. "You broke my spell. You and that fool of a lover. You broke my spe--"

He disappeared completely and so did the mound of dirt that had been his grave. Roses of all colors and sizes sprang up over it and sunlight burst through the clouds above. Jon led me back to the castle, where all of the servants were becoming visible again, and brought me to my room. He laid me gently on the bed and sat beside me.

"Why did you come back?" I whispered.

"I never said I wouldn't," he said. "At first I didn't plan to. I thought you didn't love me and if you didn't love me I didn't want to be with you. But as Mother got better I began longing for you. I couldn't bear to be without you. And today I felt an urge to come back as quickly as I could."

"You arrived just in time," I said. "Even if I hadn't given myself up to Warren I would have died. I hadn't been eating very well and I lost blood last night."

"Shh. Rest now. You've been through a lot. We'll talk about this and much more when you've recovered. Sleep now, my love."

His voice was soft and hypnotic. His fingers gently traced my face. I slept.

We were married a month later. Jon'sfamilycame to live with us at the palace and I explained everything to them in detail. We're living happily now and expecting our second child in a few months. I had been a werewolf for most of my life but I had also loved reading fairy tales. There was one called Beauty and the Beast that seems to be very close to my story. So I guess you could say I lived a backwards fairy tale. Or you could say that I lived a new fairy tale. But however you say it the ending of the fairy tale is the same. We all lived happily ever after.

**THE END**


	2. Laura Goes to the Dance

**Laura Goes To the Dance**

**By: Ariebelle**

**Author's Note: Another mediocre story, unfortunately. The romance goes way too fast in here and I know it. But it's cute, I guess. I've been saying I'd rewrite it for a while but so far I haven't. I hope you like it.**

* * *

It was a warm day for December, nearly 45 degrees. Laura Kirrel trudged down the sidewalk to school, hugging her coat to her and thinking. Her purple messenger bag hung loosely on her left shoulder and she carried a tattered blue folder under her right arm. Her brown hair was in a messy ponytail and her glasses were askew on her nose.

"Laura! Over here, Laura!" Hannah Perkins, Laura's best friend, stood on the corner, blonde curls framing her face in a very pretty way.

"Hey Hannah," mumbled Laura.

"'Hey Hannah'? That's all you can say? 'Hey Hannah'? What's the matter with you?"

"I'm just nervous about exams," lied Laura.

" Why should you be worried about final exams? You know the stuff upside- down and inside out! There's no reason for you to be worried about that! So what's really bothering you?"

Laura sighed. " If you really want to know it's about the Christmas dance next week. I want to go so bad but I just know Dad won't let me!"

Laura's father was very protective of his daughter. His wife had died three years ago in a car crash and while he tried to raise his daughter as best he could he had become terrified that he would lose her too.

"So go to the ball, Cinderella! Ask your dad and go! Nothing's stopping you but you," said Hannah.

Laura laughed dryly. " Why? So I can meet Prince Charming? Yeah right, Han. Guys like that don't exist."

" What about Austin?" asked Hannah.

Laura blushed but was saved from further embarrassment because they had reached the school. The two girls headed for their lockers, prepared for another day of high school, the last day before the semester exams. Laura's first class was study hall. She didn't really need a study hall, of course. She was in her room so often that she always finished her homework but she used this time for two purposes. One was to write poetry, which she kept in her folder. The other was to stare at Austin Green, a very good- looking boy who every girl in the school, including Laura, admired. Today was no different. She worked on a poem entitled Wishes and then stared at Austin. Eventually she grew bored and began another poem.

**_Glass Slippers_**

To the ball, to the ball.  
Glass slippers on my feet.  
I'm the belle of the ball  
And I'm scared stiff.

Nearly frozen on the stairs  
Glass slippers on my feet  
As the prince asks me,"  
May I have this dance?"

The night whirls,  
The time flies.  
Glass slippers aren't so nice now  
Even as I fall in love.

Midnight rings and breaks the spell  
I run away from love.  
One slipper drops  
And the prince picks it up.

After that life is dull, I clean and I cook.  
Then comes a knock at the door.  
"Will all the ladies of the house  
Please try on this shoe?"

My sisters' feet won't fit the shoe  
I know this for a fact.  
The shoe fits only me  
Because it was made for my foot.

"Please Highness, may I try it on?"  
The shoe fits, of course  
And my prince and I embrace  
Perhaps I'll live happily ever after, after all.

"I didn't know you wrote poetry."

Laura jumped. Austin was standing behind her. Her heart leapt into her throat.

"I... well, you see..." she stammered. "No, it's good," said Austin. "If you like fairy tales."

"I love fairy tales," whispered Laura.

Austin pulled out the chair next to hers and sat down. "Really? What grade are you in, ninth? And you still like fairy tales?"

"Yes," said Laura. "Is there a problem with that?" She was amazed at how easy it was to talk to him, even when her heart was stuck in her esophagus.

"No, no. It's just that everyone else I know stopped believing in that stuff a long time ago," said Austin.

"'Every time a child says,' I don't believe in fairies' there's a fairy somewhere that falls down dead'," said Laura defiantly, quoting from Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie.

"You're really different, you know that?" He sounded as if he were insulting her but his eyes shone with a light that said he was teasing. She blushed again.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Laura Kirrel," she whispered, becoming shy again.

"Glad to meet you, Laura," said Austin. He shook her hand just as the bell rang, signifying the end of class. She gathered up her things and left the room, tingling with excitement.  
The only class Laura had with Hannah was Algebra. During class she slipped her a note describing the whole conversation in detail. Hannah sent back a note that read:

**Laura: That's great. Maybe you can ask him to go to the dance with you. If you have a date your dad might let you go. --H.**

Laura snorted. There was no way she would ask Austin to the dance and even if she did manage to her father still wouldn't let her go. She wrote back:

**_Hannah: Yeah right! Dad won't let me date until I'm sixteen! And besides, he probably already has a date! Why would he want to go with me when there are plenty of other girls in the school? Let's get real here! --L._**

Hannah's next note read:

**So tell your dad you're coming over to my house for a sleepover. We'll go to the dance and then go back to my house for the rest of the night. It wouldn't be a lie!**

Laura wrote back:

**_It would so be telling a lie! Face it, Cinderella isn't going to the ball! Fairy tales don't come true!_**

But deep down inside she wasn't so sure. Before Hannah could hand over another note the bell rang.

"And remember class, clear the fraction in standard form. If you can do that you'll all do fine on the exam," called the teacher.

The two friends, who hadn't paid any attention to the lesson, looked at each other and burst into giggles.

"Gosh, old Stoneface can laugh! What an improvement!" Kendall Breuman, Laura's archrival, stood before them.

"Buzz off Kendall," said Hannah. " We don't need you bothering us. Besides, don't you have to get to class?"

"Class can wait," said Kendall airily. "I have to tell Laura Loser here something."

"Fine. Spill and go away," snapped Laura.

"Austin Green already has a date for the dance and you're such a geek he won't even look twice at you, bookworm!"

Kendall's baby blue eyes were burning with hatred but so were Laura's. "I don't care, Kendall," she said. "I can't go anyways. My dad won't let me. So just leave me alone, okay? You can have Austin for all I care!"

With that she ran for the French room, where she let herself become engrossed in making flashcards with the thirty verbs she would need for the final as a way to stop the tears that threatened to spill over her face.

At the end of the day Laura walked home alone. (Hannah had stayed for a Spanish club meeting.) She let herself into the house.

"Dad, I'm back!" she called.

Rick Kirrel came down the stairs, wiping his hands on an old shirt to get the paint off. (Laura's father was an artist.)

"Hello, Princess. How was school?"

"Okay. I met a nice boy today."

Mr. Kirrel stared at her.

"A boy?" he asked. " What kind of boy?"

" I told you, a nice one!" said Laura. "His name is Austin Green and he came over to talk to me during study hall. Oh and Dad, there's a dance on Saturday. I was wondering if I could go."

"You know the rules, Laura. No dating until you are at least sixteen. Get it?"

"But Dad! I wouldn't be going with a boy! Just with Hannah! Please?"

"NO! YOU ARE MY DAUGHTER AND YOU WILL OBEY MY RULES. IS THAT CLEAR?"

Laura felt tears coming on again. "Yes sir," she whispered. Then she ran to her room. There, on her bed, she let it all loose. Tears of anger at her father and at Kendall, of sadness about the dance and about how she would never get to dance with Austin and find out if fairy tales did come true flowed onto the pillows, soaking them.

The next days found Laura walking around like a zombie. Hannah tried talking to her but she couldn't get a straight answer out of her. In study hall Austin tried to talk to her too but she ignored him. On Thursday Hannah worked up the courage to talk to him about Laura.

"Austin, can I talk to you?" It was during lunch. Laura was too busy reading to notice when Hannah slipped off to Austin's table.

"It's Hannah, right?" he asked. " Yeah sure, we can talk. What's the matter?"

"I'm worried about Laura," said Hannah bluntly.

The smile faded off Austin's face. "I am too," he said. "I mean, I just met her on Monday but I really like her. Like really, really like her. Now she won't talk to me. Do I smell or something?"

"No," said Hannah flatly. "Laura likes you too, Austin. She wants to go to the dance on Saturday just so she can see you and maybe dance with you. But her dad won't let her go. See, her mom died a couple years ago and now her dad is really overprotective."

"I didn't know," said Austin. "Maybe that's why she likes fairy tales so much. They all have happy endings."

"Look, all I know is we gotta help her," said Hannah.

"How?" asked Austin. Hannah already had a plan.

"Look, you just get to that dance without a partner, okay? You don't already have one do you?" Austin shook his head and Hannah continued.

"I'll invite Laura over to my house for a sleepover. When my mom takes me to the dance I'll bring her with me. And we'll have to hope the rest of it works out."

Austin's smile came back for just a second. "We can try, Hannah," he said. "We might not succeed but we can try."

That afternoon Mr. Kirrel received a call from Hannah's mother. "Hannah can't go to the dance tomorrow," she said, "But she was wondering if Laura could sleep over. It's fine with me if it's fine with you."

"Hold on, I'll ask Laura," said Mr. Kirrel. "LAURA! Do you want to sleep over at Hannah's tomorrow night?"

Laura came down the stairs. "No, she said quietly. "I want to go to the dance."

"Well you can't," snapped her father. "I will speak to you in a minute."

He told Mrs. Perkins that Laura didn't want to go and then took his daughter aside to talk to her.

"I only want you to be safe and happy, Laura," he said." I want you to grow up and fall in love. But I don't think a dance is a place where you'll be safe."

Laura looked at her father pleadingly. "Dad," she said, "You said you wanted me to be happy too. Well I can't be very happy when all my other friends are at the dance. And Dad, I like a boy who will be there. I want to let him know how I feel! I promise won't say I'll go out with him but I have to let him know that I love him. Please Dad?"

Her father's face softened as he looked at his little girl. She wasn't so little anymore, really. She was, in fact, quite grown up. Perhaps it was time to let her be herself.

"All right," he said. "But I will pick you up and drop you off. You will not become this boy's girlfriend and you will carry a cell phone in your purse so you can contact me if you need to. Also, you cannot stay after midnight. Is that clear?"

Laura threw herself at her father. "Yes! Oh thank you, Daddy, thank you!" She kissed him on the cheek and went up to her room to get ready for bed.

If Mr. Kirrel had been worried that by letting Laura go to the dance he would lose his little girl then the word, "Daddy," made him forget the idea. She would always be a little girl. She would always be his little girl.

The next day could not have passed more quickly than it did for Laura. At seven she went up to her room to get ready. At eight she came down the stairs and her father hardly recognized her. She wore a long blue dress that had been her mother's along with matching shoes. Her hair was twisted up on top of her head and held with an elegant clip. She wore lipstick and a touch of blush. On her neck was a silver locket, opened to show a picture of her parents on their wedding day. She was beautiful.

"You look just like your mother," whispered Mr. Kirrel.

"I love you, Daddy," she whispered back.

"And I love you. Now come along, you'll be late." They slipped on their coats and climbed in the car.

Meanwhile, at the dance, Hannah and Austin were getting worried. The plan was not working out.

"She won't be here, " sighed Austin. "It's no use hoping she'll suddenly walk...in the door?"

For just at that moment Laura appeared in the doorway to the gym. Austin rushed at her, grinning.

"Laura!" he cried, "You made it!"

"Austin, I want to tell you something," began Laura.

"Not now," he said. "Just now I only want to dance with you!"

He pulled her out onto the dance floor and began spinning her around. Hannah watched from the sidelines, beaming with pleasure. It might not have worked out exactly as she'd planned but Laura and Austin were together and having fun. Maybe, if they were lucky, nothing would go...

"KENDALL BREUMAN! How dare you?" Kendall had broken Laura and Austin apart. Heads turned at Laura's yell. Laura and Kendall were facing each other. Austin stood behind Laura. Both girls were red with anger.

"So, Bookworm, you made it!" sneered Kendall. "How'd you do it? Did you get your mother can convince dear old Dad to bring you? Ooops! I forgot. You don't have a mother, do you Stoneface? She's dead!"

Kendall cackled like a hen. There was a loud smack as Laura's hand made contact with Kendall's face.  
"In case you didn't notice, Kendall, I don't think that's very funny!" said Laura.

Kendall, though shocked by the slap, slapped right back. "Well I didn't expect you to, Stoneface!" she said.

"Don't ever insult my mother again." Laura's voice was as cold as her eyes. Kendall took a step back, looking scared. "I...I..." stammered Kendall. "Did you hear what I said?" asked Laura.

"Y...yes," whispered Kendall.

"Good. Now leave me alone. I was having a good time with Austin before you butted in."

As Laura turned away the whole room broke into applause. Laura grabbed Austin's hand and led him through the throng, out of the gym, and into the hallway.

"Austin," she said, " I like you. I like you more than you'll ever know."

Austin beamed. "I like you too, Laura," he said. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

"I can't this year," she said, blushing. "Dad won't let me. But we can be friends, right?"

Austin's face fell. "Yeah, sure," he said.

"I'll be allowed to date in two years," said Laura, noticing his long face.

"I can wait," said Austin. "Just as long as you promise you won't go all depressed on me again."

Laura answered him with a kiss on the cheek. Before he could return the kiss, though preferably on the lips, Hannah came out.

"GROUP HUG!" she cried. "Because Laura stood up to her dad and to Kendall and I saw you kiss him Laura!"

And so there were hugs all round. Laura never got a kiss on the lips that night but she looked forward to her first one in two years' time. And Austin looked forward to having a gorgeous girlfriend then and a great girl friend now.


	3. Helen and the Zucchini

Helen and the Zucchini

A Cinderella Parody

By: Ariebelle

* * *

Once upon a time there was a girl who lived with her stepmother and her two ugly stepsisters, Roberta and Georgia. The girl's name was Helen but no one called her that. They all called her Cinderella, because she always had soot on her face from cleaning the fireplace every day. Helen also did the rest of the chores around the house, including cleaning the pet cages, because her stepfamily was too lazy to do them. She didn't complain. Helen had a plan.

Her plan was this:

1)Go to the senior prom at the end of the year looking absolutely fabulous and get a boyfriend.

2)After graduation, move in with said boyfriend and then marry him within the next few months.

3)Live happily ever after.

That was the plan, anyways. But Helen was not the smartest girl in the world. In fact, she was several fries short of a Happy Meal, so to speak. She had not thought about how she would get to the prom or, if she did get there, how she would get a boyfriend. She also hadn't thought about what to wear or where she and her boyfriend would live after graduation. Helen was a dreamer, not a doer.

The senior prom was in May. In April, Roberta and Georgia went looking for dresses. They took Helen with them. Even if she wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, Helen had fashion sense, something both her stepsisters lacked. She helped them pick out dresses but didn't have any money to buy something for herself.

On the day of the prom, Helen helped her stepsisters do their hair and make-up, then watched as they drove away in a white limousine with their dates, two clunky boys from the football team. Helen's stepmother was out for the night as well. Helen went back inside and sat down by the fireplace. She began to cry.

"I want to go to prom!" She raised her hands over her head, calling out to whoever was listening. Not that she expected anyone to answer. No one was around to hear her. Or so she thought. A moment later there was a loud crash from the fireplace. A plump woman in a frilly pink dress with pink wings landed in the ashes. She scrambled out, holding up a bent stick with a silver star on the end. She tried to unbend the stick as Helen stared at her.

"Who are you?"

"I'm your fairy godmother, hon," said the woman, still trying to unbend the stick. She was chewing gum. After she spoke she blew a large bubble, then popped it. Helen stared at her. "What? Were you expecting something better?"

"No," said Helen quickly. In fact, she hadn't even thought about fairy godmothers before. She didn't know she had one.

"Well then stop standing there like a doofus and come outside with me," said the fairy godmother. "And grab those rodents, the rat and the hamster. We'll need 'em."

Helen picked up the cages that held Roberta's rat and Georgia's hamster. Then she followed the fairy godmother out to the garden.

The fairy godmother stared at Helen for a long time. "Hmm," she said at last. "I think I know what to do. Go inside and find me a long, skinny vegetable. Anything'll do."

Helen went back inside. She opened the refrigerator. There were several vegetables inside, tomatoes, potatoes, squash, and one long, skinny, green zucchini. Helen grabbed it and ran back outside. She handed it to the fairy godmother.

"Here you go," she said.

"Thanks, hon. Now stand back."

The fairy godmother placed the zucchini on the sidewalk. She walked around it in a circle, first clockwise, then counterclockwise. Then she pointed her still-bent stick at it and said, "Gloophenheimer!"

The zucchini swelled. It stretched. It grew to the size of a car, then stretched some more. Soon it was a long, green limousine. Helen clapped her hands in delight. The fairy godmother held up a hand.

"I'm not done yet," she said. "You need a driver. Which one do you like better, the rat or the hamster?"

Helen hated the rat, which bit her a lot and tried to escape. She pointed to the hamster. "That one," she said.

The fairy godmother walked around to the other side of the limousine and opened the driver's door. She came back and took the hamster out of the cage. "You better stand back again, hon," she said. "This one could get messy."

Helen backed up until she was standing against the garage door. The fairy godmother twirled around twice, stuck out her tongue, waved her stick at the hamster on the driver's seat and said, "Arglifoo-snookentoot!"

A man appeared in the driver's seat. He looked like a human hamster, which he was. The fairy godmother came around the side of the limousine again. She stared at Helen some more. Then she grabbed the girl by the arm and dragged her none too gently to the center of the driveway.

"Hold still, hon," she said. "If you move, this'll never work."

Helen tried to imagine that she was a statue. It didn't work very well, because Helen had very little imagination to begin with. The fairy godmother circled her three times, hopped on her left foot, wrinkled her nose, and waved her wand. Helen closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she was wearing a slinky red dress and silver sandals with tall stiletto heels. She wobbled slightly.

"There you go," said the fairy godmother. "You're ready for prom. Get in the limo, go, have fun, find yourself a nice boyfriend, and get outta there by midnight."

"What happens at midnight?" asked Helen.

"Two things. One, the dance is over, and two, all the stuff I made for you turns back into what it originally was. If you leave a little early no one will notice and you can make it home before you're riding on a zucchini instead of in a limo. Now beat it!"

She pushed Helen into the limousine and slammed the door. As the hamster driver took off, the fairy godmother went back inside and climbed back up the chimney.

The prom that year was being held in a ballroom in the city. The theme was fairy tale endings but you couldn't really tell. Although it was a ballroom, it was dark and there were colored lights around. The only hint of the theme was the fact that it was written on a banner on one of the walls. When Helen got there the music was blaring and people were dancing. She expected the music to stop when she walked in. She wanted everyone to stare at her and think how beautiful she was. But the music just kept going and only a few people stared, including her stepsisters. Georgia was dancing but Roberta rushed over to her.

"Cinderella! How'd you get here?"

"I rode in a zucchini," said Helen. "My fairy godmother helped me."

Roberta rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure. I believe you." She snorted. "Rode in a zucchini."

She walked away again. Helen quickly put the confrontation out of her mind and went looking for her Prince Charming.

One thing Helen forgot about prom is that there are never very many boys who come there without dates. Most boys come with their girlfriends, or with friends who are girls. Not that Helen wouldn't have stooped to stealing someone's date if she had to. She wasn't looking for boys without dates. She was looking for the handsomest boy in the room. She found him half an hour later.

Zach Thomas was tall with dark hair and eyes. He looked almost like the prince in the Disney Cinderella movie. He was walking away from the refreshment table with two glasses of punch, one for him and one for his date. Helen walked up to him and took one of the glasses.

"Thank you so much," she said, taking a sip. "You didn't have to get a drink for me."

"I didn't," said Zach. "I got it for—"

Helen didn't let him finish. She set the glass down on the table and took his away. Then she grabbed his hands and dragged him to the dance floor. "Let's dance," she said.

Zach tried to look at his girlfriend but it was impossible. Helen was wrapping herself around him, twirling so much that he only ever saw her. He tried to think of something really, really nice to say to make her leave. Luckily, his girlfriend came over and saved him before he had to say anything.

Melanie Garber was not the prettiest girl in school. She had brown hair and brown eyes and she was a little on the plump side. Her hair was up in a soft bun tonight, with two curls framing her face. Her dress was purple. She looked very pretty, but her face was set in a frown as she marched over to Zach and Helen. She and Zach had been going out long enough that she knew he wouldn't cheat on her, especially with a girl like Helen. So when she came over, it was Helen she started yelling at, not Zach.

"Get off my boyfriend," she said, grabbing Helen's arms and peeling them off Zach's neck. "You can't do something like that, especially not at prom."

Zach gave Melanie a grateful smile. Helen walked off in a huff and sulked at a table. She didn't even realize the time until everyone started leaving. Then she got to her feet and ran as fast as she could in those silver stilettos. At the door she realized she still had one chance. She bent down, took off one of her shoes, and dropped it by the door. Then she took the other one off and ran for the green limo.

She managed to get home before the magic wore off but her stepfamily was waiting for her. She had to explain why she had snuck out of the house and why Roberta had picked up one of her shoes by the hotel door. As a result of her disobedience, she was sent to her room for the whole day and forced to do all the chores twice.

Helen didn't have a very happy ending. She never did get the rest of her plan into action. But it was her own fault. She could have done things right, if she had only remembered one of the most important rules of prom: don't steal other people's boyfriends.


End file.
